Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (5 page)

“Eh.. maybe 4:30 or 4:45ish. You don’t have to stay the whole time, if you don’t want. I mean, you can, but I know you probably got lots to do.” He started putting our design in the box that Mr. D provided each group for storage and packing away the extra parts.

“We’ll see. I’d need to leave around that time. But I’ll come watch.” I helped him put the rest of the stuff away. We grabbed our papers and went back to our table.

I leafed through the next part of the lab to see what needed to be done. There were about ten questions that dealt with analyzing the data collected and your design, discussing what worked and didn’t work, and how you would use the information to complete the next part of the lab. It was pretty intense. I wasn’t looking forward to all that work, especially since I was going to the game this afternoon.

“Which ones do you want to do?” He looked through the questions. He held his pen, ready to circle problems.

“Doesn’t matter to me. I can do them.”

“No. Which ones?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll do it.” I said automatically.

He looked at me and blinked wide-eyed. “Don’t you trust me?”

I was speechless.

“You don’t.” His face filled with disbelief. “Haven’t I shown that you can trust me?”

I shrugged my shoulders and tilted my head. I had only known him a day. I’ve known
of
him for longer, but that didn’t count for trust.

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. It seemed to bother him that I thought the way I did. “Let me ask you this… Have I given you a reason to
dis
trust me?”

“I guess not.”

“Haven’t I done everything I said I’d do?”

“Yeah.” I had to admit that. I was surprised he had and more.

“So?” He waited for an explanation or response.

Mr. D walked by us. “How you guys doing?” He looked at Patrick.

I took a deep breath, waiting for his response. Here we go. He’d tell Mr. D that he would rather work with someone else or alone, that I was weird. Every muscle in my body tensed up.

“Good.” He genuinely smiled. “Our design went great. We’ll get the write-up done tonight. So, we should be able to start planning the next part tomorrow. Right?” He looked at me, waiting.

“Yeah.” I was floored. That wasn’t what I expected him to say.

“I knew you guys would make a good team.” Mr. D answered and walked over to check in with Joey and Kevin.

“Thanks.” I did appreciate that he didn’t let on to Mr. D about his frustration with me.

“No problem. So, now, do you trust me?” He smiled. I could see why he was popular and good at everything. He was real, about everything. Here he was calling me on something I didn’t want to admit and it didn’t seem threatening. I didn’t feel defensive.

I bit my inside cheek and thought about it. “Well, I don’t distrust you.” I half-smiled. I hope that would be enough for now.

“Okay. I guess that’s a start. I’ll have to work on it then.” He smiled. I guess it would be enough for now. He constantly surprised me with his reactions. “I meant what I said.
We
will get the write-up done. I’ll do numbers… 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10, if that’s okay.” He circled the numbers he volunteered to do.

“That’s fine.” I circled the problems I was responsible for.

Mr. D gave his final reminders as the bell rang. He dismissed the class. I put my lab handout into my folder and shoved it into my backpack.

“See you later.” He told me as he finished putting his stuff away.

“Bye, Patrick.” I hurried out the door and to my next class.

* * *

When I got to fourth period, English, Patrick was talking just outside the classroom door with two other guys. They looked familiar, but I didn’t know their names. I might have had one, or maybe both, of them in a class before.

I was going to walk past them and go directly into the classroom, when I heard my name.

“Liz!” Patrick tried to get my attention.

I stopped and took a step back to see what he wanted. “Hi.”

“Guys,” He turned to look at his two friends. “This is Liz.” He turned to me, “Liz, this is Jason and Bobby.” Pointing to each one of them.

“Hi.” I greeted them.

“Liz is going to watch the game today. It’ll be her first game, so it’s important that you don’t suck, or she won’t go again.” He ordered his friends.

Bobby laughed, “I make no guarantees.”

Jason added, “I can.”

They were so easy-going with each other. I could tell they were all really good friends.

“We’ll see you later.” Bobby and Jason said their goodbyes and headed off to nearby classrooms.

Patrick and I walked into our English class. He opened up his backpack and started to pull out a notebook.

“They seem nice.” I commented.

“Jason and Bobby are great. They always have my back.” He got the notebook out and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Here. Look this over. Let me know what you think. I had some time last period to work on the stuff for physics.”

He handed me the paper. I couldn’t believe he was already working on it. I was going to start working on it at lunch. Wow. My eyes were wide. “Oh. Okay.”

He chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised. I said I would do it.”

“Yeah, I know. But, I didn’t expect you to
already
be working on it.”

“I do that sometimes. Besides, I have to prove to someone that they can trust me.” He flashed a smile and sat down at his seat.

The bell rang and Mr. Ludlow started class. I went to my desk and started reading over what he had written. It was very thorough. He had included comments that I had made when we worked on it in class. I was impressed. Maybe I could trust him enough to work as a team.

It was a hard thing for me to do. Trusting someone with your grade in class was the equivalent to trusting your future with them. If they ruined your grade on a project or assignment, then it would hurt your overall grade, which would hurt your overall GPA, which would hurt your chances for college and your future. My future was the way out from my parents. It was all logically connected to me.

I guess he hadn’t yet given me a specific reason to not trust him. There was something about his confidence that I couldn’t quite describe. It wasn’t cockiness or smugness. It was almost like he could kill you with kindness and you wanted him to do it. Maybe it was just because he was the first person in a long time that didn’t use me for getting our projects done. Maybe I was over thinking the whole thing. Maybe not. I don’t know anymore.

Mr. Ludlow let us self-select groups to discuss reading from last night. I always hated that. Did he not know our names yet? It’s October! Was the teacher too lazy to assign groups? Did he know that groups were really pointless and some of us did all the work while others did nothing? Did he think of the assignment that morning and didn’t get around to figuring out the whole thing? Usually, when it was ‘pick your groups’ I sat and did the work myself. Everyone picked their friends anyway. It was better that way. There was no pretense of teamwork. I didn’t have to resent the other person.

This time, Patrick came over and sat beside me. It startled me.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He must have seen me jump a little in my seat.

“It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting… never mind.” I shook my head.

He read the first question from the screen at the front of the room. We discussed the questions that were posted and wrote our responses to turn in. The overachievers that we were, we got done very quickly. “So, did you get a chance to read over what I wrote earlier?”

“Yeah. I did. It’s good.” Really good, actually. I was impressed.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I handed it back to him. “I… I didn’t start yet. I haven’t had time. I was gonna start at lunch.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know you’ll get it done. I trust you.” He winked. His grin was coy and playful. Suddenly, his smile disappeared. “Wait. I don’t want you spending your lunch doing it, just ‘cause I got some of it done. That’s not why I showed it to you.”

“Oh, I know.” I shrugged my shoulder. “I just wanted to get some stuff done, so I had less to do tonight.”

“Oh. Okay.” His smile returned. “So, you got big plans tonight?”

“No major plans.”

“I thought you said you needed to bail from the game before 5:00.” He looked confused. “’Cause if you don’t….”

I quickly thought of a reason I could share that was still the truth. “Well, it’s just that I’ll have the house to myself. And, I can practice before my folks get home.”

“Practice?” I could see his mind working trying to figure out what I was talking about.

I had said too much. The words had come out of my mouth before I could stop them. Why did I say that? “Uh… yeah.”

“For what?”

I felt myself shrinking in my seat. If I could hide in a shell like a hermit crab, I would have. “Nothing.”

“Come on. Tell me.” His voice was kind.

“No. You’re going to laugh.” I shook my head. I could hear my mom in what I said.

“I won’t. I swear.” His face was soft and welcoming. “Please?”

I took a deep breath. “Auditions for the winter concert.” I rushed through my words and watched his reaction. I braced myself.

“Really? Playing or singing?” He seemed genuinely curious.

“Singing. I’m going to tryout for a solo.” I paused and waited for him to laugh. He didn’t. “I don’t think I’ll get it.”

“Why not?” His brow furrowed.

“There are some really good singers in choir. Some of them take lessons. I just sing along with songs I like.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not good. I bet you’re great.”

“Thanks. But you’ve never heard me sing. I could be awful.” I nervously laughed.

“Somehow, I doubt that. You could prove me wrong.”

“By…?” How would I prove him wrong? There was only one way I could think of.

“Singing for me.” He looked so matter-of-fact.

“Right now? In the middle of class?” I couldn’t believe it.

He nodded.

“Uh. No. I don’t think so.” I vehemently shook my head back and forth. My eyes bugged out of my head in fear.

 
He looked around the room. The rest of the class was still discussing the questions that shown on the screen. “Ok. Maybe it’s not the best place or time. But…” A sly grin crossed his face. It was like he was about to say ‘checkmate.’ “You didn’t say ‘no’ to singing for me.”

He was right. I didn’t. I said ‘no’ to singing in the classroom at that moment. It wasn’t that he tricked me, I walked into it. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get feedback, so I could really know if I should bother to audition or if it was delusions of grandeur. Then again, it could. But it would probably be better than finding out during the audition itself and everyone watching.

“I guess, I didn’t.” I finally admitted to him.

“So, you’ll sing for me sometime?” His voice was hopeful.